Tales of Konoha's Epic Romance (As Told By Uchiha Izuna)
by Demetria0620
Summary: Here's the thing. Uchiha Izuna is a romantic. (Or the tales of romance that bud in my Konoha!Gaara AU, as observed and told by the recently resurrected Uchiha Izuna.)
1. Uchiha Izuna is a romantic

**A/N: This revolves around my 'Child of the Wind, Son of the Fire AU'. You might want to read that one first. (And also 'The Worst (Best) Hokage' first because a lot of thing regarding Obito is explained in that one.) Have fun immersing yourself in my self-inflicted, stress-induced cracky writing.  
**

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Here's the thing.

Uchiha Izuna is a romantic.

Sure, his brash un-romantic flailing elder brother may make that statement debatable but there were lots of things that differ him and Madara.

Izuna is pleasingly handsome, Madara is a mess. (Insert gigantic red stamp of approval by the Hokage right here please because this is THE truth—wait, what did Minato meant by Madara being a _hot_ mess? Heathen.)

Izuna could charm most women with the only exception to strong women related to Senju (insert an exaggerated accusing squint towards Senju Touka and Tsunade here) while Madara flailed in front of any romantic advances like the heathen and shame of the family he was.

Izuna has a good eye for romance—he was able to detect compatible couples at the first interaction—while Madara took years of working together, decades of plotting scheme of evil, another one or two decades of being dead and one reanimation and resurrection later to finally realise that he indeed was madly and undeniably in love with Senju Tobirama.

Izuna didn't even know how he could even be related to Madara. That un-romantic heathen.

' _My only love sprung from my only hate'_ his ass.

Being stuck as a ghost beside his un-romantic elder brother was Izuna's personal hell. It was so torturous that Izuna would've killed himself if he wasn't already dead.

To haunt Tobirama as a revenge was not even remotely fun because despite not knowing _who_ was the ghost that haunted him, Tobirama was able to detect Izuna's general presence.

Was the Nidaime afraid at the idea of being haunted? Ha! As if.

The little brat of a Senju used Izuna's spectral apparition as a target practice instead.

 _"_ _I don't know who you are and why you're haunting me, but now that you're at it, stay still."_

The Senju has said that, back then when Izuna tried to haunt him during the Nidaime's first life before proceeding to use Izuna's ghostly shadow as a target practice.

Fifty points if the crumpled paper went through the head, twenty-five points if it went through the chest, ten points if it went through the stomach and a combo worth a hundred points if Tobirama could throw the crumpled papers through the head, stomach and chest simultaneously.

Izuna wondered if this was the reason Hashirama kicked Tobirama and his weird experiments out to the very outskirts of the newly-formed village. The little shit was annoying as hell when he was stressed over his creations.

Izuna wanted to give the biggest 'Fuck You' to Tobirama but then backtracked because it was Madara's job to complete _that_ deed, and ew, he really did not want to fuck the Senju, thank-you-very-much. Madara was the one who has questionable taste, not this amazing Uchiha Izuna.

One month later, Izuna left the Senju to haunt Madara (again) because he was fed up being Tobirama's stress-relief entertainment. Tobirama was lucky that Izuna wasn't a particularly vengeful ghost. Izuna saw no benefit in cursing the annoying Senju or anything. He just wanted to haunt Tobirama so that the annoying Senju would finally acknowledge his budding crush on Madara before the flailing heathen fell deep into the hatred curse and started yet another drama.

(Sometimes, Izuna regretted that he gave up too early. He could've stopped the whole mess of the epic Valley of the End fight. He could've stopped Madara's insanity that led the heathen to manipulate _their_ own kin to do his evil bidding of putting everyone in an eternal genjutsu. He could've stopped all of these mishaps if only he managed to haunt the romantically constipated duo to accept their love.)

See? Even in his death, Uchiha Izuna was a romantic and an aspiring cupid. People should build a shrine for him. He would've blessed all compatible lovers that pray to him.

Thus, it was his destiny that after bearing the privilege to be the lucky witness of a romantic wedding on the day he was reanimated as a tool to destroy Konoha, he was then revived in blood and flesh to assume his duties matching these rambunctious hopeless un-romantic failures known as Konoha's shinobi.

Here are the tales of Konoha's Epic Romance.

(As told by Uchiha Izuna)

* * *

 **A/N:** **This piece came to the written form because I'm currently running away from reality and has cast a genjutsu upon myself, thus creating this version of romantic Izuna who happens to wear a 'SHIPPER' badge proudly over his soul. Originally, I just want to write about Kakashi and Obito as told by Izuna, but then my muse whispered to me that my Konoha!Gaara AU has lots of ships to be explore.**

 **And I hate my muse for even suggesting Izuna's eventual partner, and for making me to even consider it. Pretty sure IzunaX? will be a crack ship. Blegh.**

 **Like the original intention, KakashiXObito will be up as the first tale next. R && please?**

 **P/S: Izuna as Love God 2020, FTW.**


	2. Kakashi & Obito (Part 1)

Being reanimated felt weird.

Having been a wandering ghost for over a century, it was both annoying and amusing to suddenly be pulled from his aimless haunting into a brand-new body made from the nasty little rascal cultivated from Hashirama's cells that were known as White Zetsu.

(Yes, he was aware of Madara's supposed survival that led the man to depend on the divine tree while cultivating these nasty rascals. He was there, haunting Madara again and was screaming profanities to the deaf ears of his idiot of an elder brother, _especially_ when Madara tried to manipulate an innocent and _injured_ **Uchiha** child.

Some Clan Head Madara was. What a disgrace.)

Izuna flexed the fingers of his new body, feeling the lightness of the indestructible body when the command of his summoner thrummed within him, forcing him to aid the Konoha's invasion.

A physical body was nice, but Izuna would like the autonomy over his own decision to come with the package, please and thank you.

He could sense Madara's chakra somewhere and know that his elder brother has been reanimated too—whether he has the same conscious soul as Izuna was yet to be known but Izuna highly doubted it, knowing that idiot—though there was nothing he could do against his summoner's wish. The command he received was to head towards the arena and vanquish his hopefully future brother-in-law.

As much as he wanted to kick Tobirama's ass for all those insults treating him as a target practice, Izuna didn't want to kill the Senju—mainly because that would probably upgrade Madara's sharingan even more and that buffoon would be confused as hell and turned out to be even more of an annoyance to Izuna's sanity than he already was.

Wait, can their sharingan be upgraded in reanimated bodies? Huh, he didn't notice any mention of that in Tobirama's notes.

Welp, better safe than sorry.

Thus, Izuna tried to go around the summoner's orders and took a longer way towards the arena, following his instinct as his guidance. He was distracted halfway of the journey, as there was something familiar calling to him like a siren's song that pulled his soul away from his summoner's command. Izuna obliged the call, feeling something within him brimmed with joy as he approached closer to—

—the Uchiha's compound.

 _Of course._

Izuna openly rolled his eyes as his body walked on its own into the compound. His summoner's order was back with full force, demanding him to fight his own kin—whatever left of them that is, considering that the last time he checked in with his descendants, the brat that Madara tried to influence has gone so deep into loneliness that he ended up killing his own clan just to get a scrap of love from his former teacher.

Sometimes, Izuna wondered if he had made the wrong choice by leaving Obito back then. If he has continued to haunt the brat, would Obito listen to _him_ instead of Danzou? He could've been the brat's spirit guide or something.

Regardless, the Uchiha clan was murdered by one of their own, and Izuna has spent the whole night of the tragedy greeting the souls of his descendants and asked them to not curse Obito. He could only give them a brief version of the terrible manipulation Obito has been exposed to—all three manipulations from Madara, Zetsu and Danzou—before the annoyed yet amused Shinigami spirited the clan's souls away to the afterlife.

Izuna also has planned to affectionately smother Yondaime Hokage should he was ever freed from this summoning bond. The blonde man has delivered the revenge for his murdered clan oh so beautifully that it was almost arousing.

(Izuna personally has no apprehension towards men—only that he preferred women's companion more—but the sadistic glee and the firm authority of the Hokage when he punished the actual mastermind behind the Uchiha massacre has reminded Izuna that women were not the only ones that could make his blood sing with lust.)

(Even though he was a ghost and possessed no blood what so ever when he witnessed the Yondaime Hokage's true wrath, but _semantics_ )

"Forgive me, dear ancestor."

That calm voice snapped Izuna out of his internal pondering—said voice came with a quick swing of a blade that separated his arm from his body.

Izuna turned around to face his assailant, only to raise an eyebrow upon seeing a young man—probably not even much older than Izuna himself when he died by Tobirama's sword at the age of 19—but from the carved hilt of the sword itself he could determine that this young man was that Itachi brat who often visited Obito in prison. The kid was probably the current Clan Head of the Uchiha.

 _Kill him_.

The order racked through his reanimated body, demanding him to bathe in Itachi's blood but the bond of his soul with the Clan Head was much stronger. This was an Uchiha child—probably his own descendants from the many women Madara has been forced to bed by their elders to bear his heir after Izuna's death—and there was no power in the seven heavens and hells that would make Izuna turned against his own kin.

He forced his soul forward, racing against the violent blow of his reforming hand was about to deliver to Itachi. Izuna struggled to break free from his bound but only managing to break the control just long enough to speak on his own.

"Itachi-kun," he called, smiling brightly. "This Uchiha Izuna would be happy if you could destroy him before he hurts you."

Itachi's eyes widened for a split second, confusion flickered in his swirling red eyes before understanding dawned into those sharingan and the Clan Head immediately spurred into action. His hands weaved a set of strangely familiar hand signs (he was pretty sure he saw those on Tobirama's notes) before the young Clan Head thrust his palm to Izuna's chest.

There was a flash of heat that burnt from his chest, a new and warmer chakra spread from Itachi's palm throughout his whole body.

Snip. Snip. Snip.

The thread that bound him to his summoner was cut away, and Izuna's soul fully took the reign of the reanimated body just in time for him to catch the young man into his arms.

"Itachi!" he called in a mix of panic and worry, accidentally activating his family's second kekkei genkai as he flailed and fumbled to keep the Clan Head up.

"Nii-chan!"

Izuna turned around, keeping an arm around Itachi's shaking body as the young man swayed—probably being drained of his chakra from breaking Izuna's bound to his summoner—as a blur of black crashed to the Clan Head. Young Sasuke was immediately on his brother's side, attempting to hold all of Itachi's weight on his small shoulders, all the while glaring death to Izuna.

Izuna returned the little brat's glare with a sadistic sneer, taking in the pleasure when Sasuke shrunk smaller. The boy looked like he wanted to bolt from there, but at the same time looking like he did not want to leave Itachi in Izuna's grasp.

They held each other's gaze for a long moment before Sasuke's wild eyes eventually fixed on something behind Izuna, and relief suddenly flashed in his undeveloped sharingan.

Izuna tilted his head around to look at Sasuke's source of relief, only to have a huge grin of his own broke across his face upon seeing the brat he has been following after Madara's death was now looking alive and healthy, holding the bleeding Hatake brat close to his chest as the duo limped towards them.

They halted a few metres from him, a set of sharingan flickered in wariness from two different people.

Izuna wanted to swoon. He didn't even know if the current generation knew that to gift one's own sharingan to another was equal to an eternal oath of love back then during the era of his first life. They even have a proper marriage oath where an Uchiha gifted their sharingan to another—a sworn oath of love to depend on each other, to be the strength and weakness of the other, and to gaze upon the future with the same eyes till their last dying breath.

It was _romantic_.

Izuna's reanimated eyes saw strong love between these two, so yeah, he really wanted to swoon.

Izuna is a romantic. This kind of romance is the joy of his life (death).

Once upon a time, in the warring era, where the lifespan of a shinobi was extremely short, and strength was required to fulfil that short lifespan—marriage was more of a partnership and pleasure rather than romance. Emotions between partners were guarded, and not many wished to adhere to the legends of true love when their own days to live was numbered.

The sharingan is strong when used together, and not many Uchiha was willing to part with either one of their eyes, even for a loved one.

Obito has gifted Kakashi one of his sharingan and Kakashi has accepted and nurtured that sharingan to its fullest potential. Now that they were finally reunited, the two of them worked as one unit, unleashing the power of their shared sharingan, fitting perfectly to the legend of the eternal love.

Gosh, Izuna was so relieved that Obito didn't follow Madara's footsteps—thankfully this brat did not end up like the hopeless romantically constipated idiot Izuna's elder brother was.

"Obi-chan~!" Izuna beamed, setting Itachi to sit on the floor before he launched himself to the poor brat.

Obito blinked, taking in the strange reanimated person that was attempting to smother him in a giant hug as his mind tried to whirl back to remember the people who have ever called him by that ridiculous name. His single swirling sharingan widened when the memory hit him.

"Obake-san?!"

* * *

 **A/N: This is the opening to Kakashi-Obito tale. And google told me that Obake is an equivalent of ghost, so I think that Obake-san sounds better than Mr Ghost.**


	3. Kakashi & Obito (Part 2)

This was how it started.

Madara was finally dead, and because he has cheated death once, the Shinigami in charge of him was not in the mood to allow Izuna to berate the soul of his brother, much to Izuna's dismay. In a stroke of luck, Madara was dragged to the purgatory as soon as his wrinkled old body nodded off to death, saving him from facing the lecture his ghostly younger brother has spent decades to plan.

However, Izuna was still stuck in the mortal world, unable to move on for some godforsaken reasons.

The ghostly Uchiha fretted to himself, floating past the scheming bunch of Zetsu (Kuro Zetsu was significantly different than the rest it gave him chills—and _that_ was saying something because Izuna was an actual _ghost_ ) as he lamented on fate and cursing whoever in charge up there for leaving him stranded in the mortal world even after his anchor passed away.

He didn't know what he had done to deserve this.

"Ojii-chan?"

The tiny lost voice was like the beacon of hope in the looming darkness of Izuna's impending loneliness.

Izuna floated towards the boy, reaching out a hand to comfort the lost child, only to have his hand passed through the boy like a thin air. He scowled, hovering closer to have a better look at the child's face.

Something within his chest clenched the moment his gaze fell on the boy's face.

He was practically non-existent to the mortals right now, yet he felt like someone has thrust a hand through his chest and twist his heart like a wet shirt being wrung dry because—

Uchiha Obito looked so much like Uchiha Tobi.

Obito looked so much like Izuna's own long-deceased brother.

Tobi. Bright little Tobi who loved to annoy the hell out of Izuna with his cheery optimism and delightful bounciness. Izuna used to dunk the brat into the pond—annoying little shit the kid was—but the delightful grin on the boy's face never faded despite being drenched to the bones.

Little Tobi was like a mini Madara with Hashirama's behaviour. He was bright and cheerful, a dreamer with a dream of peace—something that Izuna belatedly realised was the actual fuel to Madara's own.

Tobi used to cling to Madara, looking up to their eldest brother with bright eyes filled with awe as he went on and on, babbling about his hopes and dreams. Tobi was never ashamed to talk about his dream of peace.

The brat's biggest hope was to never have to worry that the family who left their compound would return in a casket. Tobi dreamt of a life where he could see his brothers grew old and he could play with his grandnieces and grandnephews. He dreamt of marrying the person he loved, and never have to worry about waking up to an empty bed caused by an enemy's sword.

The little tyke only confided his dreams and hope to the eldest, as Madara was the only one in their family who was willing to listen and encourage him.

But in the end, it was a mere _dream_.

Uchiha Tobi died at the age of six by Senju Butsuma's sword.

Uchiha Tajima sacrificed Senju Kawarama as a retaliation.

The war has taken so much from both sides.

Out of the five of them, Tobi resembled Madara the most. Little Tobi was the closest brother to the eldest, back then during the good old times, before all that Madara has left was Izuna. The rest of their brothers inherited Tajima's smooth straight hair and cold calculated calmness while Tobi and Madara were the only ones who inherited their mother's unruly wild mane as well as her infamous fiery temper.

And not to forget the adorable flailing too.

Looking at Obito right now, Izuna saw a mirage of the past. The boy's long hair flared in an uncanny resemblance of his deceased brothers' wild mane, and his eye—Obito's single eye—was filled with the same hatred Izuna saw in Madara's own.

 _Ah, so that's why._

Izuna used to think that Madara was the one who anchored his soul in the mortal world—a somewhat twisted branch of destiny for the legendary Uchiha Madara to have the brother he sworn vengeance over anchored to him in an attempt to guide him back to the right path.

Izuna failed. Madara died simmering with hatred.

"Jii-chan?" Obito called, poking at Madara's corpse tentatively. "Are you dead for real?"

Casting another look at the boy, Izuna wondered if his anchor to the mortal world has shifted.

It didn't matter. He was already planning to stay anyway.

* * *

Obito had _nightmares._

It was horrible. The boy twisted and tossed around the rickety bedroll, occasionally thumping his head to the jagged walls of the cave he has chosen to rest after yet another whole week of being awake, though he didn't jolt awake from his nightmares. It was like the boy was trapped in a horrible genjutsu, unable to escape without someone else helping him out of the nightmares.

Helpless and lost, Izuna could do nothing but fretted and hovered over the boy. The Uchiha ancestor has even placed a hand over the tear-stained cheeks, wincing when the tips of his fingers sunk into Obito's cheek like weightless air.

For once in over a century, Izuna felt truly regretful of being a ghost.

"Obi-chan," he called, barely able to stop the worried ' _Tobi-chan_ ' from slipping his mouth because this was not his little brother, no matter how similar they looked like— _no, Obito is NOT Tobi_ —and he tried to touch the boy again, translucent hand hovering uselessly over Obito's damp face. "Wake up, little one," he crooned, wincing when he heard Obito screamed the two names that surely has tormented the boy's soul.

The boy kept screaming, begging and pleading for the safety of the two names till all that his hoarse voice could let out were howls of pure sorrow and pain.

"Obi-chan, wake up," Izuna tried again, useless as it was but he had to try, even if it was just a means to ease his own desperation to comfort the boy. "Rin and Bakashi are fine."

Obito's eye snapped open so viciously as if he actually heard Izuna's words, Mangekyou swirling to life as the boy was all but leapt away from the bedroll, kunai angled defensively.

"Rin is dead," Obito spat, single red eye glaring daggers at Izuna, shimmering with drying tears. " _Kakashi_ killed her."

Izuna was stunned into silence upon hearing the raw sorrow in the boy's first statement, but he did not miss the thick denial in the boy's voice upon his second statement.

Dealing with Madara during his life _and_ after his death did wonders to his ability to detect bullshit and denials.

And the way Obito spat Kakashi's name was the exact same way Madara spat Tobirama's name after the Senju slain Izuna. The deep tone of betrayal of having the one you deeply loved slain the one that anchored your reality.

It was the thick denial and pained tone of being betrayed that wrapped around the deep love an Uchiha typically felt.

Yep. The history was repeating.

Izuna possessed the ability of seeing a deep-buried love whenever he saw one. He definitely saw one in Obito's swirling Mangekyou right now.

Sharingan was not called the eye that reflects the heart for no reason.

 _I have to deal with this again?_ Izuna internally sighed, letting out his unspoken lament in a rush of deep suffering sigh.

"You can see me?" he hummed instead, floating tentatively closer in an attempt to not spook the boy.

Obito hissed, his chakra flared and raised his wild mane like the hackles of a cornered animal and that was all that Izuna needed to confirm that by some twisted chance of luck, the boy could see him.

They remained in a tensed cautious silence for a while until Obito finally speak up.

"What do you want, Kage-san?"

Izuna raised an eyebrow. _Wait…_

"Wait," Izuna mused, grinning when Obito blinked in wary confusion and no longer looked like a threatened animal. "What did you see?" he asked, and upon Obito's confused frown, he promptly added an explanation. "I mean, when you look at me," he said, waving a hand over the length of his translucent body. "What did you see?"

"I see a dark shadow…," Obito frowned, kunai lowered just slightly. "In the shape of a man…"

Huh. At least that was better than Madara.

"Fitting name then," Izuna hummed again, resolving to sit at his current spot in a fairly unthreatening manner. "Are you feeling better now that you're awake, Obi-chan?"

Obito scowled, not pleased with the nickname. "Why do you care?"

"Do I need a reason?" Izuna hummed, keeping his tone casual and playful. "The dead has no needs for reasons."

That was a lie, but Obito didn't need to know that.

Obito scowled again but put away his kunai regardless. The boy walked closer until he stood right in front of Izuna—his steps were tentative and wary. The single swirling red eye seemed to seek for something as the boy looked down at Izuna, his gaze was slightly off from making an actual eye contact. Though, whatever that Obito saw must have been a bit more detailed than what Izuna initially assumed since the boy seemed to have a general idea where Izuna's face was.

Obito eventually knelt in front of Izuna, lifting his chin defiantly to level their faces together.

"Why are you here, Obake-san?" the boy asked again, fingers clenching on the fabrics of his pants. "Is Rin—"

Izuna's brows twitched in a perfect reminisce of Madara's infamous annoyed tirade upon hearing that uncreative nickname, but then he saw the deep hope in Obito's eye—he saw little Tobi and remembered his baby brother's dream for peace, the dream of growing old with his family and the one he loved—and Izuna has no heart to berate the boy about the nickname.

"I haven't met her," he answered truthfully, because he knew that Obito could not have any more lies and betrayal thrown his way—no, not after the lies and manipulation Kuro Zetsu and Madara have been feeding into this boy's mind—because if the truth ever came out to light, Izuna knew that Obito would never be able to trust again. "I'm sorry child, but I'm not here on her favour."

Obito's expression went crestfallen.

Izuna immediately reached a hand to Obito's wrist—a futile attempt to comfort—only to be surprised when his hand fell solid atop Obito's own.

Obito's single eye widened as he stared at the wrist that was in Izuna's grasp.

"You're warm…," the boy mumbled in awe, sounding more like he was talking to himself.

Izuna took the new knowledge in a stride. He rose from his sitting position and knelt a bit closer to the boy so that he could tentatively pull Obito into a hug. The boy made a soft choked noise of surprise but showed no resistance, whether it was due to fear of being embraced by a ghost, or the lack of resistance was because of something else entirely, Izuna did not know.

Izuna himself was too distracted by what _he_ felt.

Obito was solid in his hold, a small figure battered and worn with a burden no child his age should felt. No, not after all the trials and hard work Hashirama has put forth for peace—a peace they fought to ensure their children would never felt their pain of war—no child as young as Obito should endure this pain.

Obito was warm too, a comforting presence of soothing warmth that Izuna has almost forgotten.

Izuna felt tears dripped down his cheeks before he even realised it.

Stuck in the mortal world as a ghost after his death, it has been almost a century since the last he felt a human's warmth.

"Obake-san?" Obito squeaked but made no move to push Izuna away. "Why are you crying?"

Izuna looked down, seeing Obito stared at the small droplets of glowing blue that in his small palms—the boy's eye widened in disbelief. The boy looked up, seeming like he was attempting to search for Izuna's eyes before he settled with a position—his gaze was only off by a few centimetres, staring at Izuna's ear instead.

Izuna quirked a smile, determined to not fail again this time.

He tightened his grip on Obito's shoulders, tucking the boy's head under his chin and nuzzled his nose to the unruly wild mane.

"Because I think your friend just entrust you to me."

It would have been a lie.

It would have been, if not because of the chiming giggle that rang in Izuna's ears, the gentle brown eyes that stared wistfully towards the trembling boy in Izuna's arms and the glimpse of a bright trusting smile that stretched across soft cheeks decorated with purple markings.

Her voice was cheerfully gentle that it invoked an involuntary smile on Izuna's face.

 _"I'll leave him in your care, Izuna-sama."_

She faded into the light.

Izuna's words were no longer a lie.

* * *

"Who are you talking to?"

Izuna flashed a fierce glare towards the black half of the parasitic plant despite knowing that he could not be seen by anyone else apart from Obito. Heck, even Obito has never seen him as any more than a dark shadow taking the silhouette of a man.

But honestly, Kuro Zetsu pissed him off.

Izuna could tolerate Shiro, but Kuro tempted his patience far worse than Madara ever did.

"No one," Obito said, pointedly not looking in Izuna's direction.

Izuna never revealed his real name to the child—resigning to be called Obake-san every time he was able to speak with the child—knowing that Obito still trusted Madara and Zetsu, which was a horrible situation to reveal that he was Uchiha Izuna. It was a bad idea all around, moreover that Obito was still clinging to the idea of the perfect world—a world where Kakashi never betrayed his trust and did not slay his anchor…

A world made of illusions where Obito would have both his love and his family.

It has been two years since Madara passed on this cursed dream to Obito.

Despite Izuna's loyal company, Obito has grown more than his sudden growth spurt. In this tall, lanky form of a fifteen years old boy, laid a century-worth of hatred, brimming with pure rage that was only fuelled with memories of betrayal and contained within the deadly seal that bound Obito's life to Madara's dream. It pained Izuna, knowing that only the brief moments of their clipped conversations that Obito was willing to indulge in the remains of his humanity.

Obito's humanity depended on the fine thread of the ghostly company Izuna could offer.

"You're always talking to yourself," Kuro Zetsu commented, voice slithered with wariness.

"The madness of the Uchiha," Shiro Zetsu giggled. "Madara is like that too."

Izuna reluctantly agreed.

The only difference between the two was that Madara was not talking to the spirit that was haunting him like Obito. That buffoon was genuinely insane.

"Bito-bito still talked about Bakashi~!" Guruguru crowed from behind Obito, draping its deformed figure over the boy's head. "Is this what human called looooveee?"

"Shut up."

"Bito-bito is in loooveee~"

"Shut. Up."

"Oooh! Scary!"

Obito grabbed Guruguru by the neck and flung the creature across the room.

"Shut up," he growled, Mangekyou flashing to life. "I'm not in love with Kakashi."

Izuna rolled his eyes and huffed under his breath;

"Tsk. Denial, denial."

Obito heard that and promptly glared at Izuna.

"Why are you glaring at the wall, Bito-bito?"

"SHUT UP!"

* * *

"I did not raise you like this, Obi-chan," Izuna grumbled, floating pass the fallen ANBU with a barely restrained sigh.

He tilted his head in acknowledgement to their bewildered gaze but said nothing as he watched the ANBU's souls being spirited away to the Pureland by the now familiar Shinigami.

He was too tired for this thing.

"You do not want to do this, kid," Izuna added after a brief moment of silence, voice dipped into an exasperated pleading tone. "Stop."

The silver-haired ANBU gasped in Obito's trembling grip, mismatched eyes rolled back into his skull as his clawing hands slowly fell slack, now gripping loosely around Obito's wrist.

"Obi-chan," Izuna murmured, hovering closer until he could rest his hand over the back of Obito's neck. "I could hear the desperate thrum of your heart, child. I could see the hesitant trembles of your body. I could see the doubts in your eye. You do not want to kill this one, child. Let him go."

"You're just a piece of my imagination," Obito hissed through gritted teeth, wrapping his other hand—still violently shaking—around the crushed throat. "You're not real, Obake-san," he murmured, sounding like he wanted to convince himself rather than responding to Izuna. "Your words have no weight over me."

"Is that so?" Izuna tilted his head, humming softly. "Thus, if I'm a figment of your imagination, wouldn't my words reflect your deepest desire, Obi-chan?"

The tension in Obito's shoulders increased, his grip around the skinny throat tightened slightly.

The ANBU inhaled a broken gasp, a soft whimper escaped his crushed throat.

Obito faltered upon hearing that pitiful sound, his grip immediately went slack—loose enough to allow the ANBU a mercy of proper inhales of breath—but Izuna could see it. The ghostly Uchiha could see that the silver-haired ANBU has already blacked out, already fading in and out of consciousness as he was all but collapsed onto the ground by Obito's feet. Obito growled, pressing a hand over the heaving chest as he angled a kunai to the vulnerable throat—his murderous intent mixed with hesitation.

Seriously, this brat.

"Obi-chan," Izuna called out, keeping his voice soft and gentle.

"Go away," Obito choked, the mask muffled a tiny broken noise. "Don't get in my way. I need to do this. For Rin. For _him_."

"A world of lies is not a better world, child."

"Obake-san, _please_ ," Obito whimpered, stopping his kunai just millimetres from the ANBU's throat. "Let me do this."

Izuna sighed, floating close to place a hand over Obito's shoulder, the other one rested atop the ANBU's chest.

He restrained a surprised breath when his hand didn't pass through the heaving chest. His palm met the solid armour of the ANBU, and Izuna wondered if there was more to this particular ANBU than a mere agent dispatched to stop Obito.

"Obito," Izuna called gently, a reminisce of the tone Madara used to use on Izuna and the rest of their brothers whenever they needed a soothing presence after witnessing Tajima's wrath. "Don't do this," he murmured, rubbing his hand across Obito's back.

"He already suffered a lot," the young man responded, body trembling with broken determination. "It is better if I—"

"KAKASHI!"

And that was it.

Izuna saw when the shift happened. He saw the exact moment Obito went from the desperate lonely child that sought the companionship of a ghost to the cold-hearted tool Madara has forged to destroy the world. Obito's eye went cold, Mangekyou sharingan veiled with an emotionless drive to complete Madara's dream as he plunged the kunai towards the gasping throat. The hesitant trembles of his body have completely vanished when the current Hokage flashed between him and the unconscious ANBU, the blonde Hokage was quick to knock his kunai away.

Izuna squeezed his eyes shut, wondering why he was chosen to remain with Obito if he was destined to fail his kin again.

"Don't do it, Obito. _Please_."

Izuna's pleas fell to deaf ears.

Obito showed no signs that he heard Izuna's words. The seventeen-years-old formed a bunshin while the Hokage was distracted trying to resuscitate the silver-haired ANBU, obviously proceeding with the original plan now. Obito sent the bunshin away, and Izuna braced himself, knowing that with the strains of childbirth, the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki would be so vulnerable that even one of Obito's Mokuton bunshin was enough to unleash the Kyuubi to the world and put the beast under his control.

Izuna left.

Izuna left, knowing that Obito was going to severe the tattered bonds he has with the remaining members of his former genin team.

Izuna left, because he couldn't bear the thought of watching history repeating itself.

Watching Madara severed his brotherhood with Hashirama was already devastating for him. He didn't need to see another one of his kin threw away a precious bond for the sake of a pointless grudge.

Izuna left, moments before a soft whimper escaped Obito's lips.

He left before he could witness the young man clutched upon the fabric over his chest, body swaying as if he was about to collapse.

Izuna left Obito, not even noticing the hesitance that stormed inside the boy's sharingan.

Izuna left as Kakashi gasped one painful breath—finally started breathing on his own again—and completely missed the flash of relief in Obito's eye.

If he hadn't left, he would've known that history would not repeat itself this time.

* * *

"You actually did a good job, you know?"

Izuna blinked at the jinchuuriki, wondering how she could even smile at him when her body was still there on the sealing circle, curled up around her newborn child as her corpse went colder for each passing second.

"Rin came," she said, grasping his hand tightly. "She told me that you were there for Obito," she sniffled, pulling Izuna into her embrace. "She told me that you're the reason that brat has a shred of humanity left."

"I failed to save him."

"You're the one connection he could not severe," Kushina hummed. "He could not severe his own bloodline."

Izuna shifted, staring into her eyes in utter confusion.

"He killed you," the Uchiha murmured in disbelief. "He is probably about to kill your husband too. Your child—Naruto," he gulped, casting one mournful look to the tiny innocent infant—and Izuna promptly remembered Jiro, barely a few hours old when their mother died defending all five of them from bloodline hunters—and horror washed over his whole spirit. "Naruto is going to grow up alone and it was all because of Obito."

"I forgive him."

Izuna gaped.

"What?"

"I forgive Obito," Kushina beamed happily.

"Are you related to Hashirama?!" Izuna hissed in disbelief.

However, before Kushina could retort, Kyuubi suddenly roared in the background—a roar so vicious and filled with rage and desperation. The beast trashed and twisted, fighting the gigantic tendrils of wood that were slowly restraining him.

"Mokuton?!" Someone from the Sandaime's ANBU team shouted, but Izuna paid no heed to the mortal's surprise.

He has seen Obito used the Mokuton before after all.

There was a shift in the air—a portal swirled open from the thin air, cracking the dimension open for two figures to limp out of Kamui's dimension. The Sandaime and his ANBU tensed in wariness, but Obito paid no heed to their defensive manner. Instead, the 17-years-old walked towards Kushina's corpse, one arm wrapped tight around the Yondaime Hokage that was leaning heavily against his side.

Kushina looked up to the beast's red eyes, grinning as the tomoe vanished from those slitted orbs.

"I guess that's my cue," she hummed, planting both of her hands on Izuna's cheeks, her eyes softened as they landed on the way Obito was gently supporting Minato as the Yondaime struggled to set up the seals to imprison Kyuubi.

Well, look at that. The brat was helping the Yondaime to seal the Kyuubi. What even has happened after Izuna left the two to their fight?

"Izuna-sama?"

Izuna snapped to attention, shifting his gaze to the grinning jinchuuriki.

"Obito makes a lot of mistakes," she said, fixing her gaze to stare into Izuna's dark eyes, her smile was soft. "But, he is never evil. He has a good heart. He is a trustworthy friend," she sighed, eyes fluttering shut. "He is just lost in his way," Kushina added, opening her eyes again and grinned at the Uchiha ancestor. "Like all lost children, he needs guidance."

"Obviously," Izuna chuckled.

"Watch over that stupid brat for me, okay?"

"I will," Izuna promised, loosening his grasp on her wrist when she started to glow.

Kushina giggled as she slowly faded to the light, cupping her hands around her mouth to yell at Izuna moments before she was sucked into the seal along with the Kyuubi;

"And make sure he and Kakashi sort their relationship out~!"

Izuna chuckled.

Oh, he would definitely see that one through.

After all, Uchiha Izuna has incredibly good eyes for romance.

* * *

 **A/N: I swear that I did not mean to write it like this. But my Obito is a ball of angst and this part needed to be established first before we went on to the romance.  
**

 **Yep, the ship started sailing when Obito was in prison. Go figure.**

 **These two probably has the most chapters as compared to other ships in this story.**

 **P/s: Btw, Google told me that Tobi bring the meaning of 'flying'. I think it would be fun if one of Madara's brothers have the name. lol**


	4. Kakashi & Obito (Part 3)

**WARNING : I implied lots of things. It's up to you how to interpret them. It wasn't pretty. Ye have been warned.**

* * *

Here's the thing.

Dramatics is one of the Uchiha's kekkei genkai.

Really. Izuna is not even joking.

The Uchiha might be famed with their Sharingan but the real kekkei genkai that traced all the way back to the generations of Madara's era was the _dramatics_.

(And yes, Izuna has his own part in the dramatics but it was in his DNA—how could he deny the thing that was written in his blood?)

It has been a full week since Obito surrendered himself to Konoha's authority.

The little dramatic brat has flat-out offered his neck—like a sacrificial offering to be slaughtered much to Izuna's charging—to the Yondaime Hokage the moment the Kyuubi was safely sealed inside the Hokage's infant child.

It was a total submission.

Izuna did not know what had happened during the fight between Obito and the Yondaime, but the brat almost gave Izuna's non-existent heart a cardiac failure when he reached for his single remaining eye and attempted to pluck it out as an assurance to the Konoha shinobi that he was ready for all punishments he would receive.

Bless the Yondaime for stopping that unnecessary dramatics despite the fact that the blonde Hokage was so close to blacking out due to his mortal injuries.

Bless Namikaze Minato for existing. All hail the Yondaime Hokage.

Izuna has to wonder if Obito was really an outcast child of the clan—an impure bloodline from a marriage between a half-blooded Uchiha and a nobody civilian—because such dramatics were a direct kekkei genkai from Madara.

(The brat might as well have the purest Uchiha blood out all the clan members because _dramatics_ equal to _Madara_ and that is the most direct Uchiha bloodline that rooted from their original ancestors.)

Izuna spent the first night after Obito was escorted into the prison glaring suspiciously at Tobirama's stone face because he simply could not trust the insane Senju to not create some weird shit that ended up as Uchiha Obito.

Hey, the maniac created Edo-Tensei. Izuna didn't put past Tobirama's questionable ethics to not attempt anything from the remains of his hateful escapade with Madara just before Izuna's idiot of an elder brother left the village. Senju Tobirama has very few lines that he was not willing to cross when it came to his experiments.

Regardless of Obito's questionable bloodline, neither Izuna nor the injured Yondaime could do anything when the Uchiha clan disowned Obito, the very next day after the brat was thrown into the deepest and most secured prison in Konoha.

Sure, putting the whole clan under a genjutsu so that they would not be caught in Kyuubi's rampage might be bad enough to deserve an exile from the clan—but the kid was one of _theirs_. As twisted as it was, Obito's intention was to protect the clan from getting hurt in the crossfire. That was the proof enough that Obito is an Uchiha first and foremost.

Izuna wished Fugaku could actually see him in his ghostly glory because spending the whole day lecturing the Clan Head regarding the importance of blood bond and the duties of a Clan Head to protect _all_ Uchiha children would have been more satisfying and effective if Uchiha Fugaku could _hear_ Izuna's voice.

Fugaku couldn't.

Thus, Izuna took pleasure in the wide horrified eyes of Fugaku's nine-years-old son as the boy's gaze followed Izuna's floating path.

Ah, Itachi-chan was such a cute brat to tease.

"Obake-san…?"

Izuna snapped out of his thoughtless musing upon hearing that soft whisper. Obito never spoke above a whisper nowadays—whether it was due to the exhaustion from the chakra-suppression seals on his body or he simply did not wish to alert anyone else, Izuna wasn't so sure.

Not that Obito has any other human to talk to down here anyway.

"Right here," Izuna murmured as he floated closer to lean by Obito's side, knowing that the brat needed his warmth to keep his slipping sanity intact.

"Thank you," Obito breathed out, sounding close to a whimper as he was all but melted against Izuna's spectral presence.

Izuna hummed and nudged the young man so that Obito could rest his back against the wall of the cell. To have his arms bound tight to his torso in that straight-jacket must have been very uncomfortable, hence the relief in Obito's breath when Izuna guided him to rest more comfortably against the wall. The Uchiha ancestor threw an arm around Obito's waist, the length of his translucent body curled up along the brat's body while his other hand brushed over the suppression seal over the bandages wrapping Obito's eye.

"Brat," Izuna sighed, his voice was fondly exasperated. "I'm here."

Obito whimpered and curled his body until he was tucked close to Izuna's chest, head buried in the ghost's neck—if the ancestor was mortal, Izuna would've had a face full of Obito's spiky hair due to their close proximity.

"Don't leave," Obito begged, voice soft. " _Please_."

How sad it was that the child could only find comfort from a man long dead?

(It was terribly sad, actually.)

A violent shiver racked down Obito's body, but Izuna could feel that the young man has grown lax against his chest, signalling that he has finally started to relax. To everyone else, Obito might look like he was curled up to himself against the wall but having the heavy weight of the troublesome brat on his chest, Izuna knew that Obito was now comfortable enough to try to fall asleep.

Obito hasn't been able to sleep for a week now.

It has been a hectic week for Konoha, and a torturous week for Obito.

The first few days of Obito's imprisonment was a torment to watch.

Zetsu stopped by for a visit the moment Obito was left alone in his cell. The weird plantain has spent a good hour hissing manipulative words to Izuna's little brat when the thing finally realised that its words have fallen to Obito's deaf ears. Enraged, the plantain activated the seal that Madara left in Obito's heart, causing the brat to start screaming in pure pain.

It took three days of being restrained and tortured with the pain of slow excruciating death when the news of Obito's predicament finally reached Minato's ears.

The Yondaime then wasted no time rampaging his way out of the hospital and relieved Obito from the pain with a counter seal of his own. It was not enough to get rid of the cursed thing, but it was enough to reduce Obito's pain and delaying the inevitable death.

Thus, it made sense that after the days of pain and torment, Obito was exhausted enough to fall asleep without an ounce of guard up. He was all but collapsed and passed out on Izuna's chest, zonked out of consciousness the instant Izuna's arms wrapped around him. In mere seconds, Obito was completely oblivious and dead to the world.

It was during this restless uncomfortable nap that Kakashi first came to visit.

Izuna was idly running his fingers through Obito's hair when he felt a long-forgotten feeling of being watched. Izuna looked up from Obito's restless face, only to meet the gaze of a single dark eye from outside the cell. Kakashi's silver hair was a stark contrast of the darkness of the underground prison, making him looked more like a ghost than Izuna. The pup's skin was deathly pale like he was drained from all of his blood and life force.

Though, what that got Izuna the most was the single dark eye.

Kakashi's eye was the eye of a man haunted by a horrifying past—the violent emotions raged within his numb stare—as the young pup unlocked Obito's prison and tentatively stepped in.

Izuna hushed Obito's soft whine, tightening his fingers around the brat's shoulder and was deeply grateful that the creak of the prison door opening did not wake the exhausted brat up. Kakashi's eye widened upon hearing the soft noise, one of his gloved hands came up to caress the heavy bandage over his own neck.

When Kakashi's dark eye steeled with determination, Izuna was almost worried that the young ANBU has come for revenge over the near-death experience Obito has inflicted on him.

To Izuna surprise (and slight annoyance), Kakashi aggressively marched towards the corner Obito was curled up against and practically squished himself between the hunched curl of Obito's body and subsequently sat on Izuna's ghostly presence.

Being a ghost could be irritating sometimes.

As much as Izuna would admit that Kakashi did have a cute ass, he was not fond of being sat through like that. Thus, the ghostly ancestor left the duo, opting to hover in front of the unlocked open door instead.

"Idiot."

Izuna cocked an eyebrow, almost swearing over his own soul that he saw a slight curve of a smirk on Kakashi's masked face.

"Idiot," Kakashi repeated again, leaning a bit closer to his bound companion. "Idiot, idiot, idiot," he murmured, brushing the suppression seal over Obito's eye with tentative fingers—his visible eye crinkled in relieved awe as he planted his palm over the ugly scar that marred half of Obito's face.

Kakashi's face completely relaxed, his gloved hand pressed deeper against Obito's cheek.

"You're really alive," the silver-haired murmured, cradling Obito's face carefully in his hands.

In the dimness of the dark prison, Izuna could make out the lines of a wide smile on the dark mask.

"You're really here."

Those three words were heavy with unveiled emotions.

Longing. Relief. _Joy_.

 _Love_.

Izuna saw _love_.

Huffing in fond amusement, Izuna hovered over Obito's other side and ran his fingers through the brat's unkept spiky hair as Kakashi indulged in the tactile assurance that Obito was really there. He glanced over Kakashi's face, seeing the young child in behind Kakashi mask and knew that the unveiled love in the glazed dark eye was genuine. Kakashi was genuinely happy having his lost friend back into his arms.

Izuna found himself silently approving Kakashi for his little brat.

Uchiha Izuna _approves_.

Now, he only needed to get these two together before they repeat the bullshit that Madara and Tobirama had a full century ago.

(This mission might be harder than it looked like.)

* * *

"I almost kill you."

"I know."

"I strangled you."

"Thankfully the bruise is easy to hide."

"I intended to lodge a kunai into your throat."

"You missed."

Izuna's sighed to his palms in pure suffering.

Someone poorly hid a humoured snort.

Obito shifted his head in the direction of the snort, relying on his hearing since he still has the sealed bandages over his eye. The brat shivered once the straight-jacket fell onto his bunk, the little movement freed his sore torso from its prison. Obito hesitated, seemingly like he wanted to try rolling his shoulders—the soreness must have built up after two weeks of being bounded—but he didn't move an inch, body tensed and wary.

Izuna scowled when the Hokage stumbled through his translucent body towards Obito. Izuna hated it when mortals walked through his body, but he could do nothing about it.

Minato knelt in front of Obito's tensed form and rubbed a soothing hand over the tensed shoulders.

Obito flinched. Minato's grip on his shoulders tightened just enough to ground him.

"My council have come to an agreement to stop bounding you like this," the Hokage assured, gently sliding Obito's wrists into the cuff. "The seals on this cuff are strong enough to restrain a rampaging jinchuuriki," he said softly, securing the cuffs with a smooth click. "It would put the people's mind at ease while not hurting you in the same time."

Obito pursed his lips.

"I killed your wife," the brat croaked, teeth gritted so tight that the veins of his neck bulged like they were going to burst through his skin. "I RIPPED KYUUBI OUT OF KUSHINA AND MURDERED HER!"

Kakashi and Minato stiffened.

"I hurt your people. I destroy your village," Obito choked a raw whimper. "I almost killed _both of you_ ," he whispered in muted horror, syllable dripping with mournful regret. "Why would you care about my comfort?"

Minato squeezed his eyes shut, jaw set in full determination. On the other hand, Kakashi lowered his gaze, staring at the trembling hands on Obito's thighs.

The last Hatake reached out to hold those trembling hands.

"Because I failed you first," Minato murmured, running a gentle hand through Obito's hair. "I failed all of you—my _kids_ —and it led you to this," he sighed, pulling Obito into a loose embrace. "This is the least I could do while you serve your punishments down here."

Izuna smiled, noting the sincere love in those vibrant blue hovered to sit next to his trembling brat, reaching out a translucent arm to wrap around the shaking body.

"They cared about you, Obito," he murmured to the child, pressing a kiss on Obito's temple. "They really do."

Obito choked back a sob into his throat.

* * *

"I can still hear you, you know?"

Izuna watched Kakashi stiffened with a humorous thought—really, the pup looked like a child caught stealing cookies with his hand in the jar—as he floated closer to the silver-haired teen. Kakashi blinked in disbelief at Obito, probably was a bit insulted that an ANBU like him could not slip undetected through Obito, who for the love of Shodai-sama, was still blinded by the suppression seal over his eye.

"If you're an ANBU, you're really bad at your job."

Izuna facepalmed, honestly not appreciating Obito's growing inclination towards masochism.

The brat was under the impression that Minato has unfairly lightened his punishment that he has grown the tendency to taunt anyone who entered his isolation cell with an unveiled hope that they would react violently to his taunts. The brat did this in some twisted needs for more punishment to atone his crimes.

It worked on other ANBU, who didn't hesitate to land a blow or two on Obito's already weakened body.

Izuna hated it.

Obito might have Hashirama's insane regenerative factor, but his suppressed chakra would delay the healing, causing the brat to indulge and relish in the pain from both his physical bruises and the throbbing pain from Madara's seal.

Izuna saw a growing addiction to an unhealthy coping method. He did not wish for it to continue.

"Are you an ANBU?" Obito taunted, probably not realising who was the ANBU tasked to deliver his once-in-a-day meal. "Because I can hear your breathing rate increase. What a shame for an elite like you."

Kakashi scowled.

"Jerk," the silver-haired ANBU muttered, openly stomping towards Obito now.

"Kakashi?" Obito squeaked, completey caught off guard.

Izuna smiled in triumph. Serve that brat right.

Kakashi huffed as he unlocked the cell—a breach of protocol because he was supposed to slide the meal through the locked opening at the corner—and the lanky teen was all but squished himself next to Obito as soon as he stepped into the cell.

Obito gaped, loss of words.

He flailed when Kakashi forcefully held his chin and attempted to feed him.

"Bakashi, what the fuck?!"

"Eat," Kakashi growled, shoving the spoon into Obito's mouth. "Hokage's orders."

"I can eat on my own!"

Kakashi cast a withering look towards the untouched food at the corner.

Izuna was pleased that someone noticed Obito's other unhealthy coping method considering that his constant nagging only fell to Obito's deaf ears. The brat was in some self-imposed punishment as he only allowed a few spoonsful for himself.

A few spoonsful, per _week_.

Per _week_.

Izuna would flip a table if he could. This brat is seriously testing his patience.

"Eat," the silver-haired ANBU muttered, voice cracking behind his mask. _"Please_."

Obito let out a defeated sigh and gingerly opened his mouth, allowing Kakashi to feed him.

Izuna thought that they made a cute picture, acting so domestic like that.

Izuna _approves_.

* * *

"You're insufferable, you know?"

Obito snorted.

"What would people say about sensei if you die out of starvation in here?"

Obito snorted again. "I don't need food, Bakashi."

Well, it wasn't too much of a lie. Obito's needs for food was not like a normal human. He could survive without food for a period of time that will kill normal men.

But it weakened him, to starve like this.

When he was weak, his injuries would not heal as fast as it should.

And Izuna knew that Obito was constantly in pain. The injuries kept on piling without a chance of rest and break to heal ever since ROOT started to take interest in him. It was all too common for Danzou and a few of ROOT agents to walk into Obito's cell and dragged him into the interrogation room.

The interrogation started to grow in shadiness as it started to depart from demanding information regarding Akatsuki to questions about Obito's sharingan and Mokuton abilities.

Izuna did not like it at all.

He had a bad vibe about Danzou. A _really_ bad vibe.

Plus, the fact that they inflicted physical torture despite Obito's docile cooperation made the whole situation seemed even shadier.

"Leave, Kakashi," Obito sighed, curling up to his knees.

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed.

"I'm not leaving until you eat everything," the silver-haired said, eye gleaming stubbornly.

"You're annoyingly persistent," Obito countered.

Izuna swatted the back of the brat's head.

Obito snorted but obliged anyway when Kakashi straddled his lap and quite frankly, force-feed him.

"Oh my~" Izuna crooned, tapping on Obito's thighs that were caged by Kakashi's leaner legs. "So scandalous."

Izuna could almost feel the intensity of his brat's glare even through the sealed bandages.

"You're horrible," Obito scowled.

Izuna swatted Obito's head again, knowing that the words were directed to him instead of to Kakashi.

Kakashi huffed.

* * *

"Obito?"

"What?"

"Will you promise me something?"

Obito hesitated mid-chewing, swallowing the food that Kakashi has wrangled into his mouth with much difficulty.

"I—" he exhaled, chest heaving from the abuse he received during the last interrogation.

" _Obito_."

Obito sighed. "What is it?"

"Don't starve yourself," Kakashi said solemnly. "I have a long-term mission. Akatsuki's movement is growing erratic without you—"

Obito slapped his hand over Kakashi's mouth. Kakashi's visible eye widened, probably not expecting the accuracy of Obito's aim even without his sight.

"Do not reveal any information to an S-ranked criminal, Bakashi," Obito warned, voice stern. "You should be the genius one. Do not delude yourself with the illusion that my repentance is forever."

Izuna rolled his eyes. _Dramatics_.

"You're unnecessarily dramatic," the ghostly Uchiha commented, flicking a finger to Obito's forehead. "You're too deep in your guilt to turn back to the dark side."

Obito was unyielding, though. The visible parts of his face remain solemn, jaw set in a stern grimace.

"The seal in my heart," Obito murmured, causing Kakashi to gasp, his gaze immediately lowered to eye Minato's counterseal painted over Obito's chest. "It supposedly functioned to ensure my loyalty to Madara's dream," Obito's voice wavered a bit, but he squared on and added; "Sensei said it himself. He couldn't get rid of it," he exhaled a shaky breath. "Any time now, and I might not be the same."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed in determination.

"If that happens...If you returned to _them_...," the silver-haired ANBU said, gripping Obito's shoulders tight. "I'll stop you. I'll stop you and bring you back."

Obito cracked a wistful unconvinced smile.

"I won't count on it," he murmured, voice soft. "But thanks anyway."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, gleaming with determination.

Oh, Izuna knew _that_ look.

Kakashi would blazed through hell and back to fulfil his vow.

Izuna-sama _approves_.

* * *

Danzou is officially the Zetsu of Konoha.

Izuna completely abhorred that old man.

For once, the ghostly Uchiha attempted to indulge in his supposed ability to curse a mortal that pissed him off. He cursed Danzou with the agony of hell. He cursed Danzou with the torment of excruciating pain so painful that the creep would think of death as a mercy. He cursed Danzou to suffer till his last dying breath.

It didn't work.

Izuna pulled his own hair in complete frustration and pure anger as Danzou exited Obito's cell with a rather smug and sated smirk on his face. The Uchiha would've locked Danzou in a torturous infinite Tsukuyomi if only he has the chance to do so. The old creep deserved every single one of painful torture existed on this cursed Earth.

However, Izuna could do nothing.

Izuna screamed, throwing his first tantrum in a century.

"Obake-san?"

The soft heaving whisper immediately got Izuna's attention.

Izuna stopped his tantrum and was by Obito's side in mere seconds. Obito was curled up between the rumpled sheets of his bunk bed, breath laboured from the torture (that was masked as interrogation) that the creepy old man had just made him through. The brat was not bound by anything—not even his shackles—but that was hardly good news when Izuna knew that Obito could not even _stand_ in the state he was in.

Obito's hand twitched, and Izuna promptly grasped said hand, running his lips over the bleeding lines of the abused skin of the brat's wrist. Obito winced, but Izuna hushed him soothingly.

"Oh, you poor child," Izuna murmured, tracing his fingers over the traces of tears that leaked down from Obito's bandaged and sealed eyes. "You should tell the Hokage, or Kakashi...the next time they visit."

This is wrong. Dreadfully wrong.

And this was coming from Izuna, who lived in the Warring States Era where shinobi has no morals whatsoever.

Obito coughed, spitting out the mixture of reddish fluid from his abused mouth.

"I deserve this," the brat dared to whisper with a horrifying resigned and _pleased_ tone in his voice. "I should be grateful that someone is willing to give me a chance to be useful."

Sage. If there was anything that Izuna abhorred more than Danzou, it was Obito's self-inflicted addiction to punishment and pain.

The guilt of killing Kushina drove the brat to point of insanity—to cause him to readily accept any pain that was inflicted on him. It was an unhealthy means to cope with his guilt. Izuna hated it to the very core of his spectral being.

"This is no way to conduct an interrogation," Izuna spat through gritted teeth. "You told him everything that you know."

Obito was silent for a moment before his shaky hand reached up to brush Izuna's cheek.

"Thank you," the brat murmured. "For caring," he exhaled sharply, his breath stuttered.

Izuna took that as a confirmation that Obito did suffer for broken ribs.

"You're the only one I have left," the brat murmured, clutching desperately on Izuna's hand.

"Brat," Izuna growled. "Don't," he squeezed his eyes shut, restraining yet another scream. "Kakashi," he tried, voice pitching higher in panic as Obito's breathing started to grow weaker. "You have him."

Obito chortled a delirious weak laugh.

"I doubt it."

The brat passed out before Izuna could retort.

Izuna resisted the urge to submit to his anger. Spirits like him were vulnerable to be turned to pure demons if he submitted to his wrath. As much as turning to a demon and made Danzou's life a living hell was a tempting prospect, there was no guarantee that he would not harm Obito if he turned.

Izuna remembered when Danzou's ROOT found out about Kakashi's less than professional visits when Obito just started to warm up to his only persistent visitor.

That discovery led to Kakashi's continuous long-term missions. It was the discovery that left Obito vulnerable and alone. The discovery that pushed Izuna's little brat to the conclusion that Kakashi has abandoned him too and he completely deserved it.

Danzou's poisonous words were much louder than Izuna's, convincing Obito that he completely deserved to be abandoned.

Izuna was dying to rip Danzou's head off his shoulders. He would give up his own soul if he could drag the old creep along with him to the deepest pit of hell.

Izuna attempted to wipe the blood from the wounded lips, only to wince when his act bore no effect. The Uchiha ancestor settled with cradling Obito close to his chest instead, running his translucent fingers soothingly over the broken abused skin of the brat's exposed body.

He hoped that someone—who was an ally—would come down and see this before Obito's healing factor kicked in and erase these evidence.

" _Please,"_ Izuna wailed to the heavens, begging to the higher power that chained him to Obito.

He almost gave up and cursed the world when hope appeared.

"Oh, Sage."

Izuna turned his head so fast to the source of that surprised voice.

"Oh, Sage," the ANBU rushed inside the cell, kneeling through Izuna's presence to cradle Obito's battered body. "Who?" the lanky ANBU whispered, horror tainted his voice.

Izuna held back a relieved breath.

 _Please let them be an ally._

"Senpai would throw a fit when he comes back," the unfamiliar ANBU muttered, hand forming the rare Mokuton hand-signs. "He would throw a fit. Kakashi-senpai is going to throw a fit. Fuck fuck fuck—"

Izuna watched with wide eyes when wooden stretcher formed underneath Obito's body.

He wasn't aware that there was another Mokuton user apart from Obito.

"Itachi!" the Mokuton user barked, sharp and commanding. "Send a message to the Hokage and alert the medic that we will be bringing Obito-san in," he instructed, applying the bandages around the worst of Obito's visible injuries. The ANBU then pressed an ear over Obito's heaving chest, only to let out a long line of swears afterwards. "Tell them to prepare for the possibilities of internal bleeding," he added, turning his head to the entrance of the cell. "Itachi…?"

Itachi wasn't paying attention.

Why?

Because Uchiha Itachi's widened horrified red eyes were staring straight into Izuna's own.

* * *

 **A/N: I'll leave the implied torture to your imagination. But, things will get better now that it has come to Minato's knowledge. And Itachi would come to visit whenever Kakashi is unavailable. Danzou's filthy hands could stay away from Obito as far as I'm concerned.**

 **By the way, this chapter covered a year and a half events. You might notice that the ages do not match up with the canon, but this is an ultimate AU, so fuck canon ages. Anyway, for clarification...**

 **By the end of this chapter: Kakashi is 18. Obito is 19. Itachi is 11. Tenzou is somewhere between 15-16. Minato is 26. Naruto and Sasuke should be 1 1/2 - 2 years old.**

 **And yes, Danzou tortured Obito for over a year, after sending Kakashi on a continuous mission to tail the remains of Akatsuki. This was done without Minato's knowledge, who was conveniently distracted by trying to build the village back while dealing with his injuries.**

 **Cross your fingers and hope for KakaObi fluff in the next chapter. XD**


End file.
